Kava Kava: A Natural Anxiety Reducer
Summer is coming to a close and September is the biggest month for going back to school, acquiring new projects at work, and no doubt a new set of things to be anxious about. Instead of popping prescription meds for that new bout of anxiety, stop it before it gets too far with a little bit of natural help. The Kava kava plant is here to help slow your mind and reduce your workday, school day, and dinner time anxieties.
Kava kava – or scientifically termed Piper methysticum – is native to many island nations in and around Polynesia (including Hawaii) where it has been used for centuries as a ceremonial herb to induce intoxication as a way to calm the patrons of celebrations. Although the kava plant has large, green leaves and stems, the actual root is the only part of the plant that is used for medicinal or recreational purposes.
Kava is also used as an alternative to alcohol among the islands and is a well-known drink available at large functions like weddings, graduations, funerals and community gatherings. There is no known hangover quality to imbibing a kava concoction and has little known side effects when used sparingly, although pregnant women and people with liver problems have been cautioned not to take it. Kava kava, while used as a drink or a medicine should also never be taken along with alcohol. Potential side effects of taking kava are drowsiness, headache, and reaction with certain drugs, indigestion or skin rash; more serious conditions may occur with dangerous amounts of kava and people interested in adding kava to their routine should always consult their healthcare provider before taking anything new.
Besides anxiety, kava kava has been used in numerous natural remedies for insomnia and back pain as well as help with children who are hyperactive or have trouble sleeping. It has been used by business associates trying to keep up with their workload, athletes crushed by their vigorous schedules, and intellectuals hoping to take that pressure off and assist in focusing their minds.
Kava kava helps make the body as calm as possible and stay that way as long as the root is in your system. Kava root relaxes your muscles, gives you a feeling of well-being, creates peaceful and relaxing feelings, increases concentration, lowers inhibitions, and can act as an organic form of aphrodisiac. By making people more sociable and less self conscious, it makes sense that it’s the premier “ice breaker” drink of Polynesia.
Traditionally, the kava root was chewed for the medicinal effects or crushed and simmered and made into a beverage. In modern times, kava kava is now available in capsules, teas, liquids, extracts, tablets, and mixed into natural health beverages.
Scientists believe that the root of the kava plant seems to be used as a type of neurotransmitter sending good feelings in the form of chemicals to your brain cells. In 2004, the Cochrane Collaboration investigated previous research in clinical trials used to treat anxiety with kava versus a placebo. Over the 11 trials they studied involved almost 650 people; researchers came to the conclusion that kava, “appears to be an effective symptomatic treatment option for anxiety.” The research also showed, however, that it should not be abused because although there is a percentage of effectiveness against anxiety, it is not high, and should not be used for prolonged or extreme cases of anxiety.
Even if you have never heard of kava root, take a tip from the party planners of the islands if you’re feeling a little crazy before a big presentation, after a particularly bad traffic jam, or in the middle of a stressful to-do list and just relax a little with kava kava…naturally.
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Keeping yourself Positive
Filed under: Anti-Aging, Be Positive, Inspirational, Uncategorized
Keeping Yourself Positive
by: Brian Tracy
The most important thing you do for your success is to take control of the suggestive elements in your environment. Be sure that what you are seeing and listening to is consistent with the goals you want to achieve.
Listen Your Way To Success
Listen to educational audio programs in your car. The average person drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles per year which works out to between 500 and 1000 hours per year that the average person spends in his or her car. You can become an expert in your field by simply listening to educational audio programs as you drive from place to place.
Take Courses In Your FieldÂ
Attend seminars given by experts in your field. Take additional courses and learn everything you possibly can. Learn from the experts. Ask them questions, write them letters, read their books, read their articles and listen to people with proven track records in the area in which you want to be successful.
Get Around The Right People
Associate only with positive, success-oriented people. Get around winners. As we say, fly with the eagles. You can’t fly with the eagles if you keep scratching with the turkeys. Get away from the go-nowhere types and above all, get away from negative people. Get away from negative coworkers. If you’ve got a negative boss, seriously consider changing jobs. Associating on a regular basis with negative people is enough in itself to condemn you to a life of underachievement, frustration and failure. Associate only with positive people. Get around winners.
Visualize Your Goals
The last thing before you sleep and the first thing in the morning, think about and visualize your goals as realities. See your goal as though it already existed. Your subconscious mind is only activated by affirmations and pictures that are received in the present tense. See your goal vividly just before you go to sleep. See yourself performing at your best. See the situations that you’re facing working out exactly the way you want them to.
Feed Yourself Mental Pictures
See yourself living the kind of life that you want to live. See yourself with the kind of relationships, the kind of health, the kind of car, the kind of home you really want. Visualize just before you fall asleep at night. The first thing you do when you get up in the morning is to feed yourself mental pictures. Those are the two times of the day when your subconscious mind is most receptive to new programming, when you fall asleep and when you wake up.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do, all day long, to keep your mind and emotions focused on your goals and financial success:Â
First, listen to audio programs in your car and when you travel around. Continue feeding your mind with a stream of high-quality, educational, motivational material that moves you toward your goal.Â
Second, resolve to associate with positive, optimistic people most of the time. Get around winners and get away from negative people who criticize, condemn and complain. This can change your life as much as any other factor.
The case against vitamins
Filed under: Anti-Aging, Diet, Fitness, Uncategorized, vitamins
Premature Judgment in the Case Against Vitamins
- Don’t stop taking your supplements just yet!
A recent Wall Street Journal article blasting the benefits and safety of vitamins is just one volley in a recent barrage of media reports questioning the benefits of vitamins and supplements. How are we supposed to react to all of these findings? Can we get an answer to the simple question: Do vitamins and supplements work or not?
The answer to that question is anything but simple. The WSJ article dismisses a vast body of scientific study on the benefits of supplements. Far from being dangerous, the lack of any of the vitamins mentioned in the article would cause severe disease and ultimately death. Aside from the pure deficiency diseases, studies are demonstrating the involvement of these vitamins in widely varied physical functions, such as the prevention of neural tube birth defects by folic acid and the use of niacin (vitamin B3) to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Â
As consumers, we are accustomed to being presented with black and white results; the product either works or it doesn’t. For years people relied on a paternalistic FDA or perhaps a family physician to evaluate the conflicting and contradictory reports in the scientific literature and come to a conclusion based on imperfect data. Within the last generation, this has been changing. Consumers are more informed and much more involved in their own health decisions. This recent phenomenon requires that we, as consumers, take over the process of evaluating the complexities and relative merits of various bits of scientific evidence. Unfortunately, the average consumer is not really prepared for this task.Â
The media has been quick to step in to the void. Unfortunately, journalism needs “news†to report and the lengthy, drawn-out process of thoughtfully accumulating and evaluating scientific evidence is decidedly not the stuff of headlines. Thus, to make news out of incremental scientific developments, subsequent results tend to be over interpreted and sensationalized. This journalistic approach to understanding scientific progress also attempts to make everything black and white again. But this time, it is a newspaper telling us what is good for us.Â
With some hard work and thoughtful consideration, you can make decisions about your own personal wellness in spite of the imperfect nature of the science. The Vitamin Shoppe wants to support your personal development of a wellness regimen. Our Health Enthusiasts can help you gather the very latest information about supplementation and health through our Lending Library and our online information resources. These resources can help you make your own health and wellness decisions. As an informed and empowered consumer, you can be the judge in the case against vitamins.Â